Archive for 2024

The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning at the courthouse. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams was in to share information about the CART receipts for January. She said the county received $78,575.56, which was up $1,720.13 from the January 2023 receipt of $76,855.43. Deloris Gray Wood was in to request the installation of a Trail of Tears Sign on Dent County Road 5380 where it intersects with Highway B. The sign will be provided by the National Park Service. The location is in District 1 so Commissioner Wes Mobray indicated his men would install it. In the road report, Mobray said his men were working on re-designing the salt spreader shed that has gotten in bad shape. He indicated they have looked at the MoDot facility and are working on drawings. District 2 Commissioner Gary Polk said his crew was cutting firewood out of ditches to burn at the maintenance shed. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson said he received an e-mail from Ron Copeland indicating he had met with MoDot and Copeland was told they are in the process of acquiring additional right-of-way for the replacement of the Standing Rock Bridge on Highway 19. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said the last day to register to vote in the April election is March 6th. Kevin Crider, the Extension Cooperative Feral Hog Outreach Educator, was in with his update for 2023. He said that 7,780 feral hogs were taken off of the landscape by Elimination Specialists compared to 6,289 in 2022. Crider said that of that total, 257 were eliminated in Dent County. Crider said that the program has provided Haybuster No-Till Drills that are managed by SWCD and are available free of charge to renovate fields with feral hog damage. Corky Stack with AEA Design Engineering was in to present three change orders on the courthouse work totaling $85,542.21. After a very lengthy discussion and numerous questions, the Commissioners approved the change by a vote of 2-1. Commissioner Larson voted no on approval stating he was not opposed to paying the additional amount, but felt the commission should have been kept up to date on the additional materials and costs during the renovation. Larson also had questions about when the lights on the outside of the courthouse are to be completed and what the labor warranty is. Another issue Stack brought before the commission was the electrical upgrade, which will also require a change order. Stack said there are three options for the upgrade. He is to be back to the commission meeting on February 1st and will have the electrical engineer with him to fully address the issue and options. The next meeting of the commission will be Monday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

Dent County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Curley forwarded the results of the appeal by Randall Abney in the case of the State of Missouri vs Randall Lee Abney from the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District. After the case was reviewed, the jury’s verdict of guilty of the neglect of a child and murder in the second degree for Abney was affirmed as there was no evidence supporting the four points the defendant said the trial court erred in by admitting hearsay and evidence of bad acts. The judgment was affirmed by Appellate judge Becky J. W. Borthwick who wrote the opinion, with judges Don E. Burrell and Jennifer R. Growcock concurring. Curley said typically a motion for a post conviction relief is filed by the defendant after the appellate ruling. The defendant may seek a transfer to the Missouri Supreme Court for consideration. The post conviction relief usually takes place in the sentencing court. Abney was sentenced by the trial court to serve two life sentences.

The Salem Police department has released their report for the month of December. The department responded to 19 accidents during the month. Officers also responded to six alarms sounding and addressed 20 animal calls. The department investigated five assaults or fights, performed 16 well being checks and three area checks during the month. The department investigated 17 domestic disputes, nine verbal disturbances, conducted 36 follow-up investigations and provided 22 escorts. They investigated a nuisance incident, three harassment reports, two fraud charges, took three missing persons reports, and offered assistance to five motorists. The Salem Police wrote seven property damage reports during December, plus made nine stealing reports and two shoplifting reports. Officers investigated 4 intoxicated drivers, 17 suspicious circumstance calls, eight suspicious person calls and seven suspicious vehicle calls. Officers responded to six trespassing calls and attempted to serve five warrants. Officers conducted 69 traffic stops during the month. The police responded to a total of 443 in incidents in December. The average response time to calls during the month was two minutes and 27 seconds and the average time spent on the scene was 16 minutes and 44 seconds.

The Salem Board of Aldermen will hold their regular meeting tonight at the Salem Community Center@The Armory. At the meeting, the board will hear a presentation from Liz Condray on the upcoming visit of Smithsonian’s “Museum on Main Street” exhibit at the Ozark Natural and Cultural Resource Center before Public Works Director Mark Nash will talk about the purchase of a Gateway for the AMI System from Nexgrid Technology Solutions, followed by the sale of number of assets of the city on Purple Wave. City Administrator Sally Burbridge will talk about the Servline Bill Protection Program that the utility committee recommended voluntary participation of coverage of a maximum of $1,000 for both water and sewer leaks, but the committee reconsidered and wanted to recommend $2,500 in coverage. She will also discuss resuming the sending of past due accounts to a collection agency, and change companies from Consumer Adjustment Company, Inc to Online Information Services, Inc. The board will discuss Resolution #1-2024 allowing the mayor to sign an agreement between the City of Salem and Online Information Services, Inc. for the collection of past due utility accounts. The board will discuss an airport fuel bid from Naegler Transport, discuss a Park and Recreation vehicle bid approval with an associated budget adjustment for a used truck, and also discuss Resolution 2-2024 authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement between the City of Salem and the MRPC to provide technical assistance for the CDBG environmental review. The board will discuss allowing Mayor Parker to sign the Financial Assistance Agreement and the General Terms and Conditions document for the Lead Service Line Inventory Project to receive the Full Grant Award from state ARPA funds, discuss the adoption of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) Policy as part of the Salem Municipal Utilities policy before hearing the financial review of funds by City Financial Director Stacey Houston. The library board requested adding Sally Granowski to the Salem Library Board to replace Rhonda Thompson, and the board will discuss changing the name from the Community Services Committee to the Community Involvement Committee and appointing new members. A number of bills will be read for the first time including Bill #3581 that amends the duties of the Utility Committee eliminating the reference to the street department; Bill 3582 that would change the utility deposits from a fixed cost to one that would be 1/12th of the previous years utilities at that address; Bill #3583 changing the terminology of the definitions and duties of the building inspector, and Bill #3584 that would also change terminology and responsibilities for violations written by the building inspector. Also, Bill #3587 will be presented that would be amending the annual budget for the City of Salem beginning July 1, 2023. After reports from the aldermen and city officials, the meeting will go into closed session.

The Dent County Commission held a special meeting Tuesday after their regular meeting Monday was postponed due to the icy road conditions. In the road report, District 1 Commission Wes Mobray said workers will be working on a salt spreader trying to figure out why it won’t stay working, while District 2 Commissioner Gary Polk said workers would be in the Boss area spreading salt on some roads that are still slick. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson proposed to the commission to include two separate questions on the April ballot: one on a county wide sales tax on recreational marijuana use, and the other would be a use tax that would only be collected on out-of-state or Internet sales of products. The first question ballot language would read, ”Shall Dent County, Missouri impose a countywide sales tax of three percent (3%) on all tangible personal property retail sales of adult use marijuana sold in Dent County, Missouri?” This tax would not be collected on the sale of medical marijuana. The second question ballot language would read, ”Shall the County of Dent impose a local use tax at the same rate as the local sales tax rate, currently 2.25%, provided that if the local sales tax rate is reduced or raised by voter approval, the local use tax shall also be reduced or raised by the same action?” Both of the questions on the ballot would benefit the General Revenue Fund of the county. The commission approved adding both questions to the April ballot. It should be noted a new use tax in Dent County would not change the amount of a purchase that people would pay for at a store in Salem or in Missouri, but would only apply to purchases made outside of Missouri that are to be used in Missouri including purchases on the Internet. If passed, people who purchase items on the Internet or by phone from a vendor outside of Missouri will have to pay the same local sales tax as if they were buying the product in Salem from a brick and mortar store. The next meeting of the commission will be Thursday at 9:00 at the courthouse and it will be open to the public.

On Monday, the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department issued an Endangered Person Advisory for an 18-year-old white male named Faelin Conner Graves. Graves has since been found and is home safe.

The archery deer hunting ended January 15th with the close of the archery season. Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation showed that hunters checked 55,396 deer during the 2023-2024 archery deer season. Top counties for the archery deer season were Jefferson with 1,440, Franklin with 1,194, and St. Louis with 1,022. Hunters checked 56,683 deer during the 2022-2023 archery deer season. According to MDC, this year was the first since 2013 that more does were harvested than antlered bucks.

If you made a reservation to camp at Montauk State Park between March 4th and April 30th, some changes may have been made your camping reservations. Montauk State Park is currently undergoing construction projects designed to improve guests’ experiences at one of the most popular state park campgrounds in Missouri. One project, the Campground Loop 4 electrical upgrade, is ongoing and due to longer-than-expected delays in receiving electrical components, the project may not be completed until late spring or early summer. In order to allow the contractor to continue working, Campground Loop 4 will be closed to visitors starting at 3:00 in the afternoon Monday, March 4th through Tuesday, April 30th. With this closure, adjustments to existing reservations between those dates were required. Camping reservations from February 25th to March 3rd will not be modified, but guests will not have electricity at the sites in Loop 4 during their stay. Guests with those reservations will receive a partial refund for the service reduction. Missouri State Parks team members did their best to accommodate all existing reservations and customers with impacted reservations will soon receive updated reservation information. If you wish to cancel your reservation, please contact the Missouri State Park reservation call center at 877-422-6766. Missouri State Parks is working to maintain access to park resources while the construction project continues. The park want to thank visitors for understanding this situation and they look forward to making the new facilities available soon.